Madam Justice Edwina Grima this afternoon began delivering the concluding address to jurors in the trial of former policeman Carmel Cutajar, who stands accused of the attempted murder of his estranged wife.

Earlier, defence lawyer Edward Gatt reminded the jurors that the accused’s former wife, Maria, took her lover to meet his children’s headmistress, rhetorically questioning whether such an act amounted to provocation.

The accused had spoken at length of his suspicions when he had given the police his statement, adding that he drew comfort from the fact that a juror had noted, from Ms Cutajar’s call records, the possibility of there being a second lover – Ċikku.

He reminded jurors that balistics expert Brigadier Maurice Calleja had testified that the weapon used in the case was far from ideal for  use in a premeditated murder. Would a policeman familiar with weapons choose to commit cold blooded murder with an antique  gun fit only to be mounted on a wall? 

“Whichever way you turn, you will find either a lie or forensic evidence which supports the defence's version of events,” the defence lawyer said.

He said his client had sobbed when Ms Cutajar had testified that his children had been introduced to her lover.

“If you are deprived of your children's youth, it is lost forever. You have a person who, with great guile, is substituting your children's father figure.

“Do justice by Karmenu. He bore a heavier burden than he should have.”

Earlier in the day, the prosecution told jurors that Mr Cutajar was making two contradictory defences: arguing on the one hand that the crime had been committed under the influence of sudden passion and mental excitement while simultaneously saying that he chose to use a puny antique handgun instead of his lethal service weapon.

Giannela Busuttil, from the Attorney General’s Office, urged the jury to ignore the backstory to the crime when dealing with the defence’s argument of sudden passion, noting that the extramarital relationship was completely immaterial to the charges at hand.

The accused had not only handed himself over to the police, but had come up with a story that he and his wife had shot each other.

This, she argued, indicated that the accused was lucid at the time of the crime.

The jury is expected to reach a verdict tomorrow.